


Infinite

by idleflower



Category: Heroes Rise
Genre: Canon Dialogue, F/F, Misses Clause Challenge, Missing Scene, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:26:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5444867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idleflower/pseuds/idleflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some mistakes are too terrible to fix. Some actions can never be taken back. Or so it seems... but a Legend always gets a second chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Hero Project, Post-Finale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laurea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurea/gifts).



At least this time, nobody died.

As good sides go, that's pretty pathetic. The Hero Project dissolved into a fracas on live TV, covering everyone involved in scandal, but not nearly enough to stop the true villains of the piece. President Victon is still safely in power, still working on schemes to "regulate" the Powered, and his useless pretty-boy son is still standing in the ranks of The American Protectorate, along with your former idol Rebellion. The DRPR investigation was only able to bring down Rexford Schillers, and all the other villains wriggled away.

The cost was higher for you and your allies, or former allies. Lucia - Black Magic - disappeared completely from the public eye, with her reputation in tatters. If she ever returns, it won't be to speak to you. Lucky, your first crush turned underdog hero, is in a coma from which she may never wake. And you... are completely Powerless.

But at least you didn't have to kill anyone, this time.

Only your future.

A voice cuts into your musing. "Hey there, hotshot." Jenny Yu lowers herself onto the grass at your side, flicking back her long black ponytail as she looks out over the lake. "Anything biting?"

"Do you see a fishing rod?" You can't help sounding bitter. You know Jenny only wants to help. She's your best friend as much as she is your case agent, and she's never been the biggest fan of outdoor entertainment. She appreciates Grandma's flower arranging (who wouldn't?), but she's far more at home in a nightclub or a computer lab than sprawled out here staring at the emptiness of nature. She's not here for herself. She's here for you.

Jenny nudges your shoulder. "There's more than one way to catch a fish. Maybe you've got a secret Silver technique."

"I'm not Silver anymore!" 

You expected her to flinch away at your shout, but her only reaction is a quirked eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Of course it's so! I can't believe you'd even say that... My Powers are gone, Jenny! My legacy from my parents, all my plans for my future as a hero, everything!" Angrily, you hurl a clump of loose dirt out into the waters of the lake. It's not even a heroic throw, just a sad little arc that ends with a messy plop. Like your career.

Jenny doesn't rise to the bait. "Do you think Powers are what makes a hero?"

"Yes... no." It would be rude to say that Jenny, as Null, wasn't a real hero just because her powers came from her suit and other tech toys. She'd done well in the Hero Project, amazingly well considering that it was her first outing and that she was juggling a secret investigation at the same time. She'd stayed cool under pressure the whole time, as if it were just another day at the arcades for her. Maybe she was always more cut out for this life than you were. You sigh. "Yes, maybe I could learn to fake it with some fancy gauntlets and a jetpack or whatever, but it would always feel wrong to me. Wrong reflexes. It's not the way I was meant to be."

"You're still only thinking about the power," Jenny observes. "Jury has Powers. Is he a hero?"

You snort.

"You see it now?" she says. "You've always been Silver, whether you had a license in that name or not, whether you had infinite Power or none at all. You're a hero because of what you do. And when things settle down out there and the time is right, you're going to come out and be a hero again. You're not going to give up on your parents and let President Victon win, are you?"

Slugger. She doesn't pull her punches! "I... no. No, I'm not."

"Good. Because I was starting to wonder if you'd forgotten." She gives you a crooked smile. "Giving up is not a good look for you."

"We can't all be as slootish as you."

"You know it," Jenny winked. "Now, get back on your feet - or maybe don't. I've got news."

You catch your breath. "About Victon?"

"No. About you." She reaches out and pokes your forehead with a finger. "The DRPR's been going through the development research from the Infinity Regulator, and... well, it looks like there's a good chance your de-powering may not be permanent."

"WHAT?!"

She laughs. "Sorry! Just, you should see the way your eyes bulged."

"You had damn well better not be joking, Jenny!"

"I'm not. I swear I'm not. I can't promise you anything, though. I'm not a specialist or a doctor, I can't even understand all the details. But from what I hear, the power-dampening effect isn't stable, it decays over time. To nothing, if we're lucky. It'll be a rough ride, but you may get your powers back in the end."

"Even the Infini powers?"

"There's no way to be sure, but... I don't see why not."

If you were inside, you'd be floored, but out here by the lake you can only lie back on the grass, overwhelmed.

"You okay down there?" Jenny asks. "I thought you'd be dancing."

"I don't know if I can believe it. It sounds too good to me true." You take a deep breath. "Too good for me, anyway, after everything I've done."

"Hey. We did good - "

"I don't mean because of the show. You did good, and I helped. You took down Rexford... and nobody died. Not like last time."

Jenny blinked "Oh, don't tell me you are still feeling guilty about Prodigal!"

"I don't know how I feel." You never knew what to think about her. She never gave you the chance. She was too intense, too crazy, too evil. She pushed herself into your life on her terms and sent it spinning. You never truly understood what she wanted from you, not even at the end.

_"The only way to stop that wave now is to kill me," Prodigal says, locking eyes with you._

She was obsessed with you, with your parents, with her mother's accidental death at their hands. As best as you could understand, if she could make you kill her of your own volition, she would die a happy martyr, believing that she had proved your family's guilt and destroyed all their hope of redemption. And so, she trapped you in a no-win situation. Kill her, or watch millions of innocents die.

That night, you believed her.

She called it murder, but to you, it was surgery, cutting out the cancer to save the host. You didn't _want_ to do it. You didn't enjoy it. But you only had seconds to make up your mind, and your pride, your belief in doing the right thing, was not more valuable than the lives of everyone in Millennia City City... so you did what you thought you had to do.

You didn't know your Infini powers might have been able to stop the Death Wave. How could you? You'd never even known you had those powers until that night. You certainly didn't know everything that they could do. Jenny and Grandma had known, but they never told you. It wasn't their fault. They couldn't have anticipated what would happen, any more than you could have. It wasn't anyone's fault. 

That doesn't change what happened.

"Killing Prodigal was a misuse of my Powers," you say slowly. "Infini-class. No limits. If I'd really understood that, if I'd believed in my Powers, she wouldn't have had to die. It seemed fitting that I would eventually lose them. Karma, you know?"

"Hoo, boy," Jenny says. "Divine retribution? I think that's getting too deep for me. How about this instead: Make up for doing wrong by doing better."

You crack a smile. "How do you manage to make everything sound so simple?"

"Practice. And listening to wise old men in caves who hand out swords." Jenny climbs to her feet and brushes grass off her legs. "Come on. I brought the latest VR release. It's a squid wrestling game with separate controls for every limb, you'll love it."

"You've already played it, you'll kick my ass..."

"I would anyway." She holds out a hand. "C'mon. Up."

It must have been the familiar banter putting you in a playful mood, distracting you from the thoughts which had weighed you down, because for a just a moment, you forget that you can't fly. You reach for your powers -

\- and your body lifts an inch off the ground.

It's only for a split second, and then you drop back down again, with a feeling like the inside of your head has just been smacked around with a rubber dog toy. You don't care. "Jenny!" you gasp. "Did you see that?"

For a moment, she just stands there, stunned. Then the biggest grin you've ever seen breaks out across her face. "You did it! You really did it!"

You can't resist. You jump to your feet, grab Jenny's hands, and spin her around. "How's this for dancing?"

"Cut that out," she laughs. But she doesn't pull away. And in that moment, the possibilities are...

Infinite.


	2. The Hero Project, Epilogue

The dock rocks underneath and you look out at the mountains lining the lake. It's almost enough to make you feel all right.

Almost.

After two months, you thought that things would have settled, that this nightmare would reverse itself and you'd have your life back. That you'd feel some peace, despite everything that happened.

But now all you can think is:

_Maybe it will take three months._

"Marian! Jenny's here!" you hear Grandma calling from the house. 

You stand and turn, stepping off the dock to hover back to shore. You make it several feet, then feel that same surge of emptiness and find yourself dropping into the water.

Slugger, you keep forgetting.

When you were sure that your Powers were gone forever, when you had no hope, (when you were wallowing, admit it), you didn't trip over yourself quite so much. You didn't reach out, you didn't try. You just lay back and let the world go. 

Now that you know that you are recovering, now that you've seen at least a little of your Power return and have hopes that the rest will eventually follow, those psychological barriers that kept you from trying are no longer present, and you're back to your old instincts. Unfortunately, you can only access your normal Powers for a few seconds at a time, and then, nothing. Much better than it was last month, but nowhere near enough to rely on when you're in need. If you'd stepped off the edge of a building instead of the edge of a dock, you'd be in a lot of trouble.

As it is, well, it's a good thing you can swim.

Jenny Yu is waiting for you as you reach the lakeside, her hands jammed into the pockets of her black jeans. "My, are we serving fish this season?"

"You'd be the first to eat it up, I know that much," you say. 

"Touché. No, really, I saw what happened. You are definitely getting more hover than you did the last time I saw you. It's a promising sign that you should regain your Powers, gradually." 

"Do your friends know how long it will take to restore my full Power?" you ask. "Or whether there will be any permanent damage?" 

"Only time will tell," Jenny says. 

You want to ask more, but the look on Jenny's face tells you she wishes she had more to offer you on the subject, too.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for not being able to come by more or give you the full debrief sooner," Jenny starts, switching gears, "but we've been busy dealing with the fallout from the Finale and wrapping up the investigation. Until we'd taken all the legal proceedings as far as we possibly could, I wasn't allowed to give out any extra information, but now, I can answer any questions you have."

Sometimes it seems like Jenny is always keeping secrets from you... She usually comes clean in the end, but it's still frustrating. Especially when you were right there with her, helping her with her investigation throughout the Hero Project. How could it have hurt anything to keep you in the loop? You couldn't tell anyone else even if you'd wanted to, not while you were in hiding and depowered. Still, you're not going to turn down a chance for answers. "I'm dying to hear everything," you say.

"Then let's get to it," Jenny says, pulling up her holo-files. 

Together you go over the details of the investigation, the arrangement with Culic behind the scenes, the final outcomes of the various players in the game, and the public's opinion of you. 

"I can't believe they're still on my side, after everything I've done..." you murmur. 

Jenny shoots you a look. "I thought you got over that. Stop being so hard on yourself. Be happy that people see you as a hero."

"It's not that simple!" You sigh, and the chill of your still-damp clothing settles in around you. "I've always done... I've always tried to do the best I could, but I feel like such a mess inside. I don't know how you do it."

Jenny freezes, her face a perfect mask. "How I do what?"

"You never worry about anything! You never doubt anything! You're never afraid..." The moisture in your eyes doesn't come from the lake. "Jenny, ever since that first night I met Prodigal, I spent half my time as Silver terrified, trying to make the best of bad situations and kicking myself about whether I'd done enough, whether innocent people were going to die, whether it would be my fault. Some nights I walked away from a fight and all I could do was throw up."

Jenny turns her face away. "And you think I don't feel anything?"

"I think you're braver than I am, and probably smarter than I am - "

"Definitely smarter," she says breezily.

" - and maybe it was right that you placed ahead of me on the Hero Project," you continue. "Because even without Powers, you're the better hero."

"What?" She turns back to face you. "It wasn't a competition. Not for us. You know that's not why I was there."

"You always wanted to be a hero," you continue. "You always _were_ a hero, costume or not. I'm surprised it took you so long to put one on. You've always had your hands in the business, inside information, ready for action. When those killer robots went after Grandma, you dove out like a pro, shooting them up like it was nothing - in an evening gown! The second you had a clear shot at Prodigal's generator suit, you fired without hesitation -"

"And knocked myself flat on my ass," Jenny points out.

You shrug. "All I'm saying is that it seems so easy for you. It isn't that easy for me."

"Marian..." Jenny sighs. "You say you felt all those things, but you didn't let them stop you, right? You always kept going. Right?"

"I had to."

"Right. But my point is, someone else looking at you might not know how you felt, either." She looks up at the sky. "When I was young, when I was in school, long before I knew you, I didn't have a lot of friends."

You don't say anything. It's not new to you, and certainly not different to you. You never fit in well at school. Your parents' misfortune and the stupid disagreements between fliers and energy wielders didn't help, but even without that, you don't think you would ever have been popular. You just weren't the type. Jenny is the only close friend you've had for a long time.

"Small schools can make it hard to find your own place," Jenny says. "I didn't have much in common with my classmates. And some people didn't think I behaved like a girl ought to."

"Because you like video games? Because you like girls?" You're baffled. That sort of prejudice is supposed to have nearly fizzled out before you were even born.

"Because I don't _react_ like they think a girl ought to." She's quite serious now. "Because I don't laugh at jokes that bore me, and I don't apologise for things I didn't do wrong, and I say what I mean when they think I should be more polite. I like the world to make sense, and I like to reach my goals efficiently. I don't want to waste time thinking about how I feel and not getting shit done. But that doesn't mean I don't care, and it doesn't mean I'm always right."

"Just almost always," you tease.

"Sure, and a good thing too. Where would you be without me?"

"Probably chained up in Victon's basement while he invents new ways to torture me."

She tsks. "Your imagination, not mine!" 

"Yeah. Let's hope it stays nothing but my imagination." You know in your bones that you and President Victon have another confrontation coming soon. Next time, the stakes will be even higher. "So, are you going to carry on as Null, then?"

"As long as it's the best tool for the job. And," she smirks your direction, "I expect Silver to pull her weight. Even if she has to do it with jetpacks and rayguns."

Your heart gives a little flutter. Partners? Is that what she's saying?

"There's a storm brewing," Jenny continues, "one I'm sure you'll find yourself at the eye of. You have to know that you won't be safe here forever. Victon and The Meek _will_ come for you at some point. You're a loose end they can't afford to leave untied, as the biggest threat to their new regime. And we'd better be ready for them."

"Well," you say slowly. "If we're going back into the hero business together, there's another matter we have to discuss. But first, I have to get out of these wet clothes, before I slugging freeze!"

\---

When you come back down the stairs, still toweling your hair, Jenny is sitting at the table with a cup of Grandma's green tea. Grandma herself is nowhere in sight, which is a relief. You love her dearly, but there are some things she doesn't need to know.

Jenny sets down the cup. "Spill it, hotshot. What's on your mind?"

You take a seat across from her. "This may sound stupid to you, I guess. Because I've been thinking a lot about how I feel."

She looks away. "I don't think that now - "

"About Sparrow," you cut her off quickly. Seeing that you've confused her, you continue. "Sparrow and Sonja. You remember. Prodigal kidnapped them both, my sidekick and my 'pet reporter', and made me choose which one was going to live and which was going to die."

"But it was all fake," Jenny says. "Because Sparrow was really Prodigal. She faked her own murder."

"That's not the point," you try to explain. "When Prodigal made me choose, she tried to make it sound like it was all a matter of fame versus justice. Like, if I really cared about doing good and being a hero, I had to save Sparrow, because she was my sidekick and she'd protected me in the past. And if I saved Sonja, then I was nothing but a glory hound, a selfish sociopath. But that _wasn't it at all!_ " You force yourself to relax and unclench your fists. "The point of being a hero is to protect the innocent. A hero is willing to give her life, if she has to, for the greater good. I didn't choose Sonja because I thought she was more useful to me than Sparrow. I chose her because it was our job to save her. And I knew that, of the two of them, Sparrow had a better chance of escaping or fighting Prodigal on her own. I didn't abandon her: I believed in her." 

You remember the brief exhilaration of that moment when you saw Sparrow alive and well. You'd thought it had all worked out just as you'd planned, and everything would be all right. You didn't even question that you had seen her 'die'; heroes are notoriously tough to kill. If only it had been real.

"Okay," says Jenny. "What are you getting at?"

"I feel like a hypocrite," you admit. "I didn't save Sparrow because I believed in her, right? But when Rexford pointed that thing at you, I jumped in front of you to protect you. _And I'd do it again._ "

"Oh," is all she says. You wait a moment, hoping for a clearer reaction - but it seems there's nothing for you to do but plunge ahead.

"So... Wasn't it wrong? Because I _do_ believe in you, Jenny. You're a great hero, and I'd be proud to have you as a partner - proud to be your partner. And I knew, if I stopped to think about it, that the Infinity Regulator probably wouldn't hurt you, since you're not Powered. Should I have trusted you to tank that shot? If I try to protect you, am I really letting you - letting myself - down?"

Jenny stares at her hands where they rest on the table. She blinks several times. _Like a computer rebooting,_ you can't help but think. 

"It isn't the same," she says at last. "When you had to make that choice, between Sonja and Sparrow, you _had_ to pick. You couldn't save them both. If you had to choose between saving Null and saving Grandma Lee - "

"Don't even joke about that!" you groan.

" - then I'd understand your choice," she continues. "If I had to go, to save her, then I'd be proud that at least my death meant something. It's logical. It's what I would do, too. But!" And now she looks up at you, her dark eyes shimmering. "What happened with us was not the same. It wasn't about choosing to save me over someone who couldn't save herself. Your only choice there was to protect me, or _not_ to. And if you consider that the Infinity Regulator was an untested prototype that doesn't work like they planned it to, and Infini-Powers don't react well with tech at the best of times... we don't actually know that it wouldn't have hurt me."

For all the nights you've spent thinking about that moment, you somehow missed that detail. What if you'd let Jenny take the hit, and that weird energy had caused Null's suit to short out somehow, and stopped her heart? You would have kept your Powers... and you would have lost _everything_. "Slugger," you whisper.

"Yeah," she says quickly. "Messy. So, you know. Don't think I'm not grateful." She stands up. "I should really be going. The mountain of holo-paperwork that goes along with this report isn't going to fill itself out."

"Wait, about that," you say, standing up too. "Your report never mentioned who sent me those MeMessages. Or how the DRPR knew to investigate this conspiracy in the first place."

"That's because we don't know," Jenny answers. "We've chalked both up to anonymous tips, for now. No one has come forward to claim responsibility for either. And given the deep waters this conspiracy treads, that makes sense."

"Someone close to Victon," you guess. "Someone who wants him taken down, but can't risk revealing themselves."

"Maybe. Or else someone who got caught, and was dealt with. There haven't been any more messages since the finale - since you went out of commission." Jenny smiles. "It was you that they kept contacting, after all. Maybe they're waiting for Silver."

"Let's hope I don't make them wait too much longer."

Jenny nods and turns to go, but before she does, she spins back around and pulls you into a hug.

"I'm not good at any of this mushy shit," she whispers. "But thank you." 

"Thank me for what?" you whisper back. "Taking that hit for you? Or for..." 

"For everything," Jenny says, stepping back. "Now don't push your luck, hotshot." 

"I always do," you say, reaching out and pulling Jenny back towards you... and into a kiss. 

For a moment, she's frozen in your arms, but you hold your ground. After a few seconds, Jenny relaxes, returning the embrace, and you finally feel... Centered.

"Well it's about time," Grandma says from the doorway, causing you and Jenny to jump apart. 

Turning fifty shades of red, Jenny turns back towards the door as quickly as she can move. 

"I'll be back very soon," she says. "Take care, both of you." 

And with one final wave, Jenny walks out the door. 

 

\---

Later that night, you're curled up by the remains of the fire, sleepily content. Your Powers are slowly creeping back. President Victon's image is in trouble. Jenny is reconsidering her just-friends policy. The public thinks you're very nearly a Legend. And you received the first letter from your parents in the Devoid prison, sending their love. Your heroic journey is a long way from complete, but the fires of hope burn strongly. 

Everything is going to be okay.

Standing up to put out the fire, you let a yawn stretch out.

"Are we really that tired, chicken?"

_That voice._

In shock, you look up to find a shapely, feminine figure standing behind the fire... wearing a bodysuit made of black kevlar. 

"How did you... you're supposed to be..."

"Dead?" Prodigal laughs, stepping into the light. Her crystal-blue eyes seem to glow as if lit from within. "Please, what self-respecting villain doesn’t know how to fake their own death a thousand times over?" 

Your head is spinning. You don't know whether to be relieved or enraged. "You made me think I'd killed you!"

She waves a finger in the air. "You know what they say, chicken. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..."

Over and over, the images flash through your mind. Sparrow, darkly beautiful and wounded, tied to a chair and screaming for you, and then the gunshot, and the blood... _but it was all fake._ Prodigal, strapped into her generator suit, threatening the end of Millennia City, until your energy blast ripped a hole through her chest, and she fell to the ground, still smiling... _but it was all fake???_

"... besides," she concludes, "What would be the point of making you a murderer if I wasn't going to be around to watch?"

You raise your hands to blast that look off her face, but find that only a few purple sparks shoot from your fingertips. Slugger, you keep forgetting!

"There's no need for that, darling," Prodigal says. "I'm only here for a little chat." She presses her hands against the red stripe that runs along her chest, as if touching her heart... as if she had one. "Besides, I voted for Silver about five hundred times on The Hero Project! I'm a bonafide fan. Though really, I thought you'd have been able to do a little more with my support. And especially after those handy tips I sent!"

"Wait... _you_ sent me those cryptic MeMessages?" you nearly shout.

"To you and the DRPR both," Prodigal says. "You see, I was spying on Victon when I came across his little cabal. I had all these grand plans to use you to bring him down, being the proud Infini advocate I am. And our story really did need a sequel, all of the fans thought so."

"What have you done this time?" you growl.

"Hold your wild horses, chicken," Prodigal says, rolling her neck. "It was a rather uncomfortable journey getting to this little spot you've got. Anyway, I stopped paying attention to the whole Hero Project escandalo after I sent that second MeMessage. You see, while watching Victon I came across a particularly juicy tidbit. As a matter of fact, that's what brings me here tonight."

"Spit it out, you slugging maniac, or I'll throw you into that fire and sit on you until you barbecue!"

"Now now, that's no way to talk to your future partner, now is it?" Prodigal says in a sing-song voice, spinning in place. "We're going to do some very big things together, you and I. We're going to war against President Victon."

You can't deny that you'd like to take down Victon, but not enough to join forces with a bonafide supervillain! "Why would I work with you? Why would you work with me?"

"Such a tiresome thing, you are, Marian. Use your imagination. What do you and I have in common? Other than, you know, everything?" She grins, her smile wide and full of teeth. "And that little murder. Other than that."

"We have nothing in common. We are nothing alike - "

"Wrong, wrong, wrong!" she crows. "What we have is _parental issues!_ You remember my mother, Miss Artillery? You know, the one who Victon put your parents in super-jail for murdering?"

You nod, holding your breath...

"Well, I didn't get my talents from nowhere, you know. I'd given up on Mother Dearest, after all these years... but now, I've got evidence that she's rather alive and well, and Mister Victon knows it." A smile curls across her lips. "Now do you see?"

The breath escapes from your mouth in a silent explosion. "Are you sure? Are you slugging sure?" If Miss Artillery's not dead, and you can prove it, then you can bring down Victon and free your parents in one swoop!

"Nothing is sure in life, chicken," she says, moving closer to you. "But for the first time in years, I've got hope. And hope springs... Infinite."


	3. Herofall, Gay Gardens

MANY ADVENTURES LATER...

You are sitting in a fabulously decorated room at GG's little garden hideaway. It's not really your style, but after everything you've seen and done today, you wouldn't care much if it were neon pink-and-green plaid, as long as it guaranteed you a few hours of safe, quiet sleep.

GG insisted on treating you and Jenny both to "high tea", but stepped out of the room to give you some privacy for discussion. Prodigal, your erstwhile... ally? ... is off in the guesthouse, trying not to blow herself up while she removes the wingbomb from her shoulder. GG has promised that it's a secure holding cell, so she should be safely out of the picture for now.

You turn to talk to Jenny, but she starts speaking before you can.

"I already know what questions you're going to ask, so here are the short answers," she says. "I was able to find you through a secret DRPR MeChip tracker app, one that only I have access to as your case agent. I had it installed a while back when it became standard protocol, but I haven't had to turn it on before. Don't worry, once I got your location I deactivated the tracker and told the DRPR you had gone AWOL."

"... Thanks," you say.

If she notices the sullen tone, she doesn't comment. "Anyway," Jenny continues, "I was checking on Grandma Lee before coming to find you, otherwise I'd have been there sooner. She's safe with Officer Sanders. I can't tell you where."

"Did you install a secret tracking app in her MeChip too?" you ask, the edge in your voice unhidden.

"Yes," Jenny shoots back. "But I deactivated hers, as well. I'm sorry, do we have a problem here? Is there something you find offensive about me risking my career to save your behind, once again?"

"No," you say, "but I hate it when you keep secrets for no reason!"

"You don't need to know everything - "

"And I'm not asking where Grandma is, am I? There's no reason that I need to know, right now, and it's safer if we don't say, I get it! But you had a tracker on me and you didn't tell me? What if someone else got access to that? What if Victon used presidential overrides? He's done that before - "

"And when he did, I lied in the database for you and encrypted all the access points, to cover your tail, like I always do," Jenny says, not budging an inch. "What do you want me to do, refuse to tag your MeChip, lose my job, and leave you with a new agent who would probably turn you straight in to Victon at this point?"

"Of course not, but you should have told me I was trackable, so I knew what the risks were!" You try to control your voice. Jenny reacts best to logic, not to you throwing a fit. "You don't like flying blind, do you? I needed to know."

Her shoulders fall slightly as she relents. "Maybe you're right, but as long as you were staying at the safe house, it didn't matter." Her finger traces the curve of the teacup's handle. "I have to make choices, too."

You know that Jenny never expected Prodigal to show up and set events in motion, or for President Victon to make his move so quickly. If you and Null had planned as a team, things would have gone very differently. "I'm sorry, Jenny. I'm just exhausted."

"I haven't slept either," Jenny sighs. "Sorry for snapping. All of this is so..."

"Insane?" you finish. 

Jenny just nods. "Speaking of insane, do you want to tell me what the slugger you're doing with Prodigal, and why she's not dead? _Again_?"

\---

After you explain everything you've learned over the past day to Jenny, she stares at the floor, trying to process it all.

"Slugger. I guess there's really only one question to ask now," Jenny says, looking back up at you. "Do you think you can trust Prodigal?"

"After that trip through her mind, I believe she's telling the truth," you say immediately. Then again, this is Prodigal you're dealing with, so you add: "Or at least I'm as sure as I can be. She believes what she's saying, but if anyone could believe five different things at once..."

"'Six impossible things before breakfast'," Jenny quips, and sighs. "I guess that'll have to be good enough, for now." She pauses to pinch the skin on her elbow and you tense, knowing something uncomfortable is probably coming. "Marian," Jenny starts, "how are you doing? I mean... are you okay?"

You look back at Jenny, realizing no one has stopped to ask you that since all this madness began. Though you know the answer is simple. "It doesn't matter," you say. "I have to be okay."

Jenny nods and you stare at her, emotion swelling in your chest. You've been through so much together. and whatever happens, you can't imagine your life without her being a part of it. But somehow, right now, with both of you exhausted and on edge, doesn't seem like the right time to demand some big proclamation of her feelings.

You wonder if there ever will be a right time.

"If you need anything," Jenny says, "you ask me, okay? I'm here for you. But there is one thing I'm going to do that's non-negotiable: I'm coming with you to find Miss Artillery."

"But - "

"No," Jenny interrupts. "It's my choice to make, not yours. I have the right to see Victon taken down. Civil disobedience demands that when the law is unjust, it’s my duty as an American to stand against it. Besides, I helped start this war. Now I'm going to help end it."

No matter how you cut it, Jenny can be pretty formidable. "Good to have you on board... partner."

She grins, her teeth flashing. "Not to mention that someone has to keep an eye on that crazy woman you've teamed up with. The moment this is finished, I am dragging her ass to jail, and I'm not too particular about what condition she'll be in when she gets there."

You can understand why Jenny feels this way, since Prodigal kidnapped and tried to kill her as well. Actually, the list of people Prodigal has kidnapped and tried to kill is pretty long... "Jenny, I know how you feel, but... I think she needs help more than she needs punishment."

"Excuse me? Are we talking about the girl who tried to blow up an entire city?"

"I'm not sure she really intended that to _work_ ," you say, somewhat awkwardly. "She just wanted to make me angry enough to... attack her. That Death Wave suit was built from the very beginning with hologram projectors to make it seem like she'd been blasted clean through. It was all a trick, so she could 'die' and see how I'd react."

Jenny is not impressed. "That's insane."

"That's my point. She's not well. If you saw how she'd been brought up, or how she was living in that toxic waste dump with her pets dying around her... she needs a therapist, and a doctor, and a lot of other things. Her Powers only work when she's 'at war'. Making her happy might be the best way to bring her under control."

"I think you're kidding yourself," Jenny says. "Running around in someone else's head may have damaged your perspective."

You shake your head. "I'm not calling Prodigal a saint! But I understand - "

"She's a killer."

"And that's completely and utterly unforgivable?" You look away. "Before last night, we thought I was a killer. We thought my parents..."

"That was an accident!"

"What I did - thought I did - to Prodigal wasn't an accident," you state. Maybe it wasn't murder, since you thought you were saving people, and no one actually died, but you can't say you were completely innocent. Even Jenny has threatened to kill Prodigal today, and you don't think she was joking, but you don't want to bring that up right now. "I thought the Crush was beyond redemption, before I met him. Now, I think people can change, if they really want to. What Prodigal did is nowhere near as bad as that. She didn't really shoot Sparrow, and she didn't actually kill anyone with the Death Wave. I think there's still a chance for her to turn her life around."

Jenny throws up her hands. "Fine! Bargain for her to get medical treatment, _after_ we take down Victon and she's safely in prison. But in the meantime, I'm sleeping with one eye open. I won't ever make the mistake of trusting her."

"Oh, you don't have to worry too much, chickens..." 

You look up to see Prodigal striding calmly into the room, her shoulder wrapped in a fresh bandage. There's no sign of the wingbomb, and you didn't hear an explosion, so you can only hope it was disposed of safely. She saunters across the room and settles herself into one of GG's fancy chairs.

"Because I'll be dead within a month, anyway."

Your jaw drops, but before you can speak, Jenny pipes up. "You're supposed to be locked into a secure room!" She stabs at a device in her hand, bringing up a tiny display. "You _are_ locked in a secure room!"

Prodigal waves a hand through the air as if conducting an orchestra of jellyfish. "Hard-light decoy. Easy-peasy."

The thought that Prodigal can up and walk away even while overzealous security equipment is staring right at her is unnerving enough that it takes you a moment to follow her next statement.

"I'm afraid I've been keeping one last secret from you," Prodigal continues. "It appears that pushing my Infini Powers so hard and so quickly on the Death Wave did a considerable amount of damage. The herologists I kidnapped couldn't quite figure out which was the chicken or the egg of it all, but their conclusions were the same. Some irredeemable combination of Infini strain and nuclear exposure has given me an aggressive and irreversible form of Infini cancer."

"What happened to those herologists?" Jenny yells.

"Oh, Ms. Yu... You really don't want to know." She shakes her head with exaggerated sadness. "The experts always warned against overusing Infini Powers before one's body was truly ready, and it would seem they were correct. In fact, I probably should have died months ago. Fighting this current war is the only thing keeping my Powers in order. It's probably the only thing keeping me alive." 

You listen to Prodigal and your mind immediately flashes to the trouble she's been having with her Powers, how pale and exhausted she has seemed, and it feels like a final puzzle piece is falling into place. Of course she'd be desperate to resolve matters, if she knew she was running out of time.

"I'm afraid that this is my last grand stand," Prodigal finishes. "So you don't have to worry about what to do with me. Because once this war is over, so am I."

Perhaps that was why she went to such lengths to recruit you. If she's dying, she may not have the strength to pull this mission off on her own, not compromised like this. All that she said about feeling connected to you could have been nothing but a desperate lie to get you on board.

"I just want to see my mother before it's too late," Prodigal offers, actual tears forming in her empty eyes. "I have some questions I need answered before I die."

You turn to Jenny and find her visibly unmoved by Prodigal's revelation. She doesn't buy it. Of course, this story of her impending death could be another lie, a way to avoid the consequences of her actions.

How can you ever tell, with Prodigal? 

Her capacity for deception, self or otherwise, is pretty much... Infinite.


	4. Herofall, Finale

The stage was set, literally.

Power versus Power. Millenial Group versus PowerBreakers. The Crush against The Meek. The Infinite Elite and the American Protectorate turning on their own, the First Family dissolving into a wrestling match, even Grandma Lee getting into the swing of things as her battle plants tackled the running guards.

It's taken a lot of help to get you this far, but now, all your allies are engaged, disabled, or missing in action.

Which leaves you here. Just you and President Victon facing off, with the whole world watching.

"Some dysfunctional family you've got there, Mr. President," you quip, trying to keep his attention on his errant relatives while you assess the situation. Your parents are still trapped in their execution cell, but as far as you can see, they're unharmed. It's not too late.

"Not as dysfunctional as your family of criminals," President Victon snarls, turning to your parents' cell... with an Infinity Equalizer gun in his hand, set to kill.

_No._

As you see the very weapon that crippled Jenny, that once stripped you of your Powers, you raise your hands to tear it apart in Victon's grip. You activate your gravity Powers, but they seem to just slide off of it - the IRP must have found some way to upgrade the weapons with mini-Power dampening fields.

Frantic, you turn to your parents' cell, knowing this is your only chance to save them. With gravity blurring rings around your hands, you gesture and shift the entire cell up and away, breathing a sigh of relief as Victon's blast passes harmlessly underneath.

There's no time to waste. You pull the bars of the cell apart, setting your parents free at last. It feels really slugging good.

They look dazed; no wonder, after their long confinement. Being suddenly faced with all this chaos would be a bit much for anyone to take in! You fly in for a landing, your arms extended for that long-awaited hug.

"Marian, look out!" your mother suddenly screams, pointing across the stage.

You spin towards President Victon, just in time to see his finger pull the trigger. You only turned your back on him for a moment... but that moment was all he needed. You can see the Infinity Equalizer blast rippling through the air at you. There's no time to dodge, and this time, you know, you won't recover. 

_At least I died a hero._

You feel the blast rip into your back, knocking you down, and... wait... wasn't Victon's blast supposed to hit you from the front?

You hear screaming, people rushing around, the familiar sound of a fist hitting flesh. Someone's fighting nearby. But... Aren't you supposed to be dead?

You open your eyes, seeing nothing but the floor of the stage under your face. With a thought, you summon your Powers, and lift yourself up in a cloud of purple energy. Everything still works. You're fine.

_Victon missed?_

No. Something shot you in the back and knocked you out of the way of the Infinity Equalizer blast. Painful, but a lot better than the alternative. Was it your parents?

You turn in the air, scanning the stage. There's your parents - restraining President Victon, who they've already disarmed. They are consummate professionals, after all!

And then... _oh no!_

There's a body lying on the stage. A body with long dark hair, a figure-hugging black bodysuit, and a pool of blood already spreading from a wound in her chest...

"You rang?" Prodigal croaks, blood trickling from her mouth.

Holy slugger, Prodigal must have blasted you away and taken Victon's shot to save your life! And now, she's...

You fall to your knees beside her, reaching out with your Powers to transfer some of your health into her. You know your Powers can work together. She healed you, as Sparrow, when the Wisp nearly killed you... but something feels wrong. Your enhanced Infini control should make you better at this, powerful enough to heal a mortal wound in minutes, but it's like you're pouring energy into an endless pit...

"Don't bother," Prodigal chokes. "My Powers are gone now, too. Even if you heal the shot wound, the incurable Infini cancer is killing me quickly anyway."

"I won't give up on you!" There _has_ to be a way. Your Power levels have gone off the charts! Even if you have to remake her entire body, even if you have to replace all of her organs with bionics like Jenny's new legs, there has to be a way!

"C'mon, let's just call it even," Prodigal coughs. "You know, for all those times I tried to kill you."

You almost laugh.

"I always loved you, chicken," Prodigal chokes out. "You know that, right?"

"I know..." you whisper. And you did. It was one of those things you understood from your tour through Prodigal's memories, one of those things you could never explain to Jenny, who hadn't been there. You're not quite sure _why_ Prodigal loves you. Maybe it's because she wanted to be you. Maybe it's because, from the very beginning with her mother, love and hate were all tangled up for her. 

You couldn't return those feelings, not after what she'd put you through, not with the unbelievable pressure of this final confrontation and Prodigal's own impending demise making it impossible to keep perspective, not with your budding relationship with Jenny at risk. But you knew that with Prodigal's mother gone, you were the most important thing in the world to her.

And now she's dying for you.

You can't break down now. This is your last chance to deliver her mother's final message. You set your MeChip to scan both Prodigal and President Victon, now that they're both in the same location, and display the results of its findings for the world to see.

"Uploading official DNA scan test to Silver's MeTube page now," MeChip Alfred says. "President Victon is a 100% match for Prodigal's biological father."

As this revelation rocks the stage, you look up to find President Victon and your parents looking utterly bewildered. Though when you look back down at Prodigal, you find that a twisted smile warps her dying face.

"Father murders secret daughter," Prodigal laughs. "Now there's a real twist ending. Couldn't have planned it better my..." But she doesn't get to finish. Her face slackens, her eyes rolling blank.

"NO!"

You reach deeper inside yourself, dredging up every bit of Health and Energy you can muster, forcing it into Prodigal's body, which begins to glow purple beneath your hands.

"Marian, stop!"

"Marian, you can't help her, you're killing yourself!"

You can hear your parents and your friends imploring you, but you're not paying attention. The only thing that matters right now is the girl in your arms. You open your eyes to check for any reaction to your desperate attempt...

... and go cold with horror as Prodigal's body begins to dissolve.

"Oh, slugger!"

It's too late to call your Powers back now. Her very flesh falls apart in your arms, melting into nothing but bubbles of purple light. Within moments, there's nothing left. Just like her mother.

Prodigal is dead.

 

\---

SIX MONTHS LATER...

You sit on a balcony, overlooking Millennia City, watching the ever-changing energy of the people below you. They go about their business, safe and happy, knowing that heroes are always watching out for them. Heroes like you.

You flip idly through the book that Sonja wrote about the rise and fall of your family and Victon's, and how they shaped the political landscape of the country for the future. It's not news to you, of course, you were there, but it always gives you a little jolt to see your own name and actions in print. You made history.

The hardest chapters to read are the ones about Prodigal's legacy. After everything she did, it's that last image of her heroic self-sacrifice on your behalf that left the biggest mark on the public. The stories you and Sonja shared about Prodigal's childhood, plus her role in undermining Victon's conspiracies, have built her up into a champion of the downtrodden, an inspirational figure who tried to make the best of a terrible situation. The Death Wave, now that it's safely in the past and no one actually died of it, has been quietly forgiven.

Sonja doesn't completely gloss over Prodigal's dark side, of course. She mentions her own kidnappings at Prodigal's hands, and the petty villains that Prodigal killed without thinking early in her career. The details about the herologists that she told you and Jenny she had kidnapped and disposed of, however, had to be left out, because Sonja was unable to verify the story. Wherever Prodigal went for her medical evaluations, it must have been pretty far from home.

In the end, you decided to accept Prodigal as an ally, and maybe that was what opened the door to help her move beyond her troubled past. You'll never know what there might have been between you, if she'd lived to get the treatment she needed.

Given all that happened to Prodigal, to Miss Artillery, to Black Magic, you're just grateful your own Powers haven't driven you out of touch with reality. Especially now that you seem to be more Powerful than ever.

You accepted a position as leader of The Millenial Group, and now reside in this luxurious penthouse with the best views in the city. It's a far cry from your upbringing in the Fringes, but you'll never forget where you came from. Especially since you have your whole family here with you. Your parents and Grandma Lee have their own apartments, as does Jenny, who as the new-and-improved Null is the newest member of The Millenial Group. With all of her weapons and systems now built in, Jenny's now about as strong as any regular Powered hero.

It's good to know your girlfriend can look out for herself.

You and Jenny made things official and celebrated President Victon's impeachment with a night you'll never forget. You've been vaguely talking about getting married someday, but neither of you wants to rush things. You're already practically family, and Jenny wants some time to establish herself as a full-time hero "without getting too swept up in your Legend", as she says.

"Hey, hotshot. You've got fanmail. On actual paper."

Jenny grins as she hands you an envelope. "Don't expect me to fetch your letters all the time. I just happened to see it while I was picking up that X-Mask issue I ordered." From the size of the bundle in her arms, she must have paid for every single holo-variant cover, too. You enjoy reading them, but the finer details of collectibles are just a little bit much sometimes.

"Maybe it's a school project again," you say, reaching for the letter. You turn it over in your hands. The handwriting is certainly terrible enough for a child's, although you're a little out of practice in physical writing yourself. The stamp is a pretty picture of a blackbird, but there's no return address. You carefully cut open the envelope and pull out a card, to read:

_Fooled you three times._

"Holy slugger," you breathe. Can this actually be real?

Jenny raises an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure yet," you stall. 

Is this some kind of sick joke? If anyone would rig up a letter to be sent six months after her death, it would be Prodigal. Or perhaps someone else is trying to take over her identity. Anyone who read Sonja's book knows that you cared about her, and might try to get a rise out of you with something like this.

And yet... her body did disappear. A body with a gaping chest wound, just like the one she faked before... a body made of light... 

A strange grin takes over your face.

"You're weirding me out, Marian," Jenny says. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," you say. "Nobody here but us chickens."

After all, a girl has to keep some secrets.

And if Prodigal really is alive, then together, you might be...

Infinite.


End file.
